Architecture 2030 and Sefaira (a Trimble Company) today announced Design Guidance, a new functionality in Sefaira Architecture. Design Guidance uses real-time analysis results in Sefaira Architecture to deliver customized guidance on how to improve a building’s performance, and points the designer to relevant passive design strategies collated in Architecture 2030’s 2030 Palette. Design Guidance was showcased at Greenbuild 2016, taking place this year in Los Angeles.

The 2030 Palette is Architecture 2030’s innovative online resource for the design of low-carbon and adaptable built environments worldwide. This free tool informs the design and planning process at the point of inspiration, presenting the best information and practices through powerful visuals and straightforward language.

“Design tools that enable architects and engineers to make informed decisions on energy use during the critical early phases of design are key to meeting the 2030 Challenge targets, but information to support the analysis tools is just as important.” said Ed Mazria, Founder and CEO of Architecture 2030.

Sefaira Architecture already integrates the 2030 Challenge benchmarks directly into its real-time energy analysis, and now the integration of the 2030 Palette into Sefaira’s Design Guidance feature connects designers with the most appropriate passive design strategies, based on the energy-use profile of a given design.

Connecting Insight with Action

Since 2012, the Sefaira software for high-performance building design has enabled architects to quickly analyze building performance at the earliest stages of design. “We’re taking our support for Performance-Based Design a step further by providing users with project-specific design guidance,” said Sefaira’s Product Manager Kerger Truesdell. “Let’s say the biggest driver of energy use in your building is cooling, followed by lighting. Design Guidance will surface relevant links to the 2030 Palette identifying passive strategies to reduce cooling load and strategies to reduce lighting loads.”

Following the relevant links provided, users can explore the 2030 Palette’s online library of strategies, called Swatches, and decide which ones they want to test in their concept. The Swatches give users sound passive design principles supported by built precedents and questions to guide the refinement of their design. Not only does Design Guidance enable a project to achieve stronger performance, but it also increases designers’ understanding and mastery of Performance-Based Design solutions.

Available Now

Sefaira’s Design Guidance functionality is now available within Sefaira Architecture and will be demonstrated at Greenbuild in Los Angeles this week.

2030 Palette expands into Chinese and Spanish

The 2030 Palette – the online platform for planning and designing decarbonized, resilient, and sustainable built environments worldwide – is global in scope and local in application, including worldwide approaches and built examples. Now we’ve taken that global scope further, releasing translations of the core 2030 Palette Swatches in Chinese and Spanish.

Over the next two decades over 60% of the world’s projected 900 billion square feet of new building will take place in the Americas and China, so expanding the Palette’s reach to Chinese and Latin American audiences is essential. And, with Chinese or Spanish being the first languages of more than 1.5 billion people worldwide, the 2030 Palette translations play an important role in extending the global reach of the platform.

“It’s key that as many architects, planners, engineers, and designers as possible have access to the 2030 Palette’s education and information. The Chinese and Spanish translations mark the next step in our ongoing efforts to provide building sector professionals around the world the skills they need to address the climate change crisis”.
– Ed Mazria, Architecture 2030 Founder and CEO

The Chinese and Spanish versions of the 2030 Palette include all the rich visuals, advice, and concise rules of thumb of the English version and can be accessed using the links at the top of every page of the Palette.

Our next steps will be to translate the extra information pages into Spanish and Chinese, and we’re also working on Portuguese and French language versions of the core swatches.

Additional 2030 Palette Content

In addition, we’ve expanded the breadth of content available in the 2030 Palette (in English), adding detailed information on passive solar heating and urban infill strategies, and addressing the subject of earth-sheltered buildings for the first time.

Direct Gain: Heat Storage – Masonry Thermal Mass

The Direct Gain: Heat Storage swatch in the 2030 Palette now includes an In-depth Information page on Direct Gain: Heat Storage, detailing the design and sizing procedure for incorporating masonry thermal mass in passive solar heating building applications. Diagrams and graphs explain the concepts and heat transfer mechanisms of masonry thermal mass, and include detailed rules of thumb for incorporating mass into various building configurations.

Urban Infill – Urban Infill for City Growth

This new In-depth Information page on Urban Infill for City Growth explores urban infill, a key strategy for city growth as an alternative to urban sprawl. The section provides a historical perspective of infill growth, delivers examples of how it’s been imaginatively implemented in metropolitan areas in a variety of climates, and offers advice for both architects and planners on approaching new infill projects.

New Swatch – Earth Sheltering

In addition to new In-Depth Information pages, we’ve also included a new swatch on Earth Sheltering – a design strategy that updates traditional earth-sheltered building forms, making this application useful for adapting to rapidly changing climates. The swatch includes examples of a variety of earth-sheltered buildings illustrating contemporary architectural applications of this ancient form of building.

Together, this new material expands the 2030 Palette to 56 swatches and 11 In-Depth Information sections. Look for additional new content in the months to come.

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About Architecture 2030

We are a non-profit organization established in 2002. Architecture 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from the major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to a central part of the solution to the climate and energy crisis.